Well here goes! I've been doing oodles of research, found a male and female I adore and got the breeding/grow out tank set up.

The Male:

The Female:

Currently the male is in the breeding tank. It's a 20 gallon high, half filled. He has a fake plant and a bit of java moss. More java moss will be added, hopefully this weekend. He looks so lonely in such a big tank! He will continue being fed lots of tasty foods to get him primed and ready to go.

Sunday night I will do a water change and then hopefully add the female within a large vase. She will get lots of tasty foods as well. Depending on how they are progressing, we'll see if she gets released next week!

I am not going to use live food (other then infusoria from the java moss). I plan on using egg yolk, hikari first bites, liquid fry food (can't remember the brand) and frozen bbs. We'll see how that goes...

I also plan on leaving the male in as fry control. Has anybody done this? I do not want a huge spawn. As these babies will be just for me, the fewer the better. I have no issue culling but I also have a lot of homes lined up already. If anybody in the Guelph/Hamilton region of Ontario would like a baby let me know.

Good luck....lots of different ways to spawn and rear fry.......it sounds like you have a plan and a good handle on what to expect....

As far as leaving the male-this varies from male to male....unless I have a plan for the male I like to leave him as long as possible or if he is a known egg/fry eater.....I will take him out.....right now, I am doing multi spawns and I leave both the male and female together long term and remove fry as they grow...... I am stealing every-other nest to artificially hatch with a couple of my setups...but I also use more natural methods to spawn and I don't recommend this method with just any setup or any pair.....a lot of things can go wrong.......

Good luck and look forward to following your spawn log.....lot of fun and it can be really rewarding rearing your own Bettas from spawn to adult.....

If your tank is a 20 high I'd probably lower the water level much more than half way. Maybe about 3 or 4 inches of water is all you need. With that much floor space and the right amount of plants there will be a lot of room for them to escape each other so less water will allow them not to completely lose each other. Also less water will be better when the fry first start free swimming to allow them to easily find food, unless you're planning to jam pack your tank with live plants to increase opportunities for them to feed on infusorians.

I have found the opposite to be true...in my case anyway....the deeper the water the better.......spawn ready pairs will find each other no matter the water depth and even in complete darkness......fish use their lateral line to sense each other and things in the tank-more volume can help keep the breeders safe, maintain water quality longer, more space for live plants and this makes the best divider that can help with premature egg drops and if the water is too shallow you also can have accidental nest mishaps when they don't have enough room to move around....with healthy eggs/wiggles you should have limited falls from the nest...but I am also used to working with really healthy fish and water and this may make a difference too.....and I have been doing this for a really long time to boot......

I do agree with 1fish in that first time hobbyist with spawning this species may have higher success with bare bottom- low level tanks and once you build confidence and get good breeders....they do all the work no matter how deep the water.....

Lots of different way to spawn, set up the spawning tank, condition the breeders and feed the fry........

She is so stressed out looking... I've filled her jar with java moss so she has lots of cover. Hopefully that will mak her feel a bit more secure. She is a fish that gets stressed out very easily though, so we will see.

Take her out and hold everything until she becomes more aggressive. Keep her in solitary, preferably in darkness for a few days. DO NOT let her see any male. Show her another female or a mirror. Once she is aggressively trying to breakout of her tank to get to the mirror, then set up everything (for breeding).

Place the male in the breeding tank and float the female. If both are flirt swimming, then you can release her - you could also wait for a day or 2 before releasing her.

She had coloured up this morning but I decided to take her out. She went back into the sorority.

I've decided that while I adore her as a female, she is not the right match for him. He's a very small fish and she is just too big. My LFS has some smaller females, who I believe are halfmoons, so I think I am going to go have a look at them.